Pickup Truck

Alaska State Troopers are asking the public for more information on a Homer crash Monday evening, in which a driver was run off the road by a pickup truck and suffered minor injuries. According to a Wednesday AST dispatch, troopers responded shortly after 11 p.m. to Mile 5 of East End Road, where a Chevrolet Cobalt compact car had slid off the roadway and struck a culvert in a roadside ditch. “Investigation revealed a pickup, possibly a GMC, traveling in the opposite lane of travel had partially crossed the center line and had caused the driver of the Cobalt to take evasive action, causing him to slide into the ditch,” troopers wrote.

A sentencing hearing was held Friday for Sherrie Wilson, who was convicted of second-degree murder for killing 75-year-old Sam Black after a 2009 argument. Anchorage police say Wilson, 28, was drinking with Black at a Midtown home early in the morning of April 30 when she shot him twice then stole his pickup truck -- and was arrested by officers for driving drunk. At the hearing before Judge Michael Wolverton, defense attorney Brendan Kelley tried to bolster his argument that Wilson was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when she killed Black.

The getaway driver in an Anchorage double-murder pleaded guilty Friday. Elihue Gillespie is the third person involved in the 2009 murder to cut a deal with prosecutors; the fourth is expected to go to trial in June. As part of the plea deal, Gillespie has to testify against the accused shooter, 24-year-old James Coven. Court documents say Coven and two friends, Tabitha Burton, 18, and Christopher Gonzales, 26, were getting high one night and decided they needed more drugs.

by Mike Ross Friday, June 4, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The pilot of a small plane is safe Friday after an emergency landing on the Glenn Highway during rush-hour traffic. Bill Toney had engine trouble and was forced to set his Cessna 180 down in the southbound lanes of the Glenn at the Mirror Lake exit just before 5 p.m. Toney said something blew a big hole in the crankcase of the engine, at which point he had to find an open spot in the traffic to make his landing.

Alaska State Troopers say the standoff between a suspect of a shooting that injured two troopers has ended. At about 6 p.m., Troopers say they approached the vehicle and found Arvid Nelson, Jr. Of Kotzebue, dead inside from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two Alaska State Troopers were injured in Kotzebue Sunday during a shooting that led to a subsequent standoff. AST spokesperson Beth Ipsen says troopers received a request for assistance from Kotzebue police, who were dealing with a male suspect barricaded in his vehicle, at about 9:15 a.m. Sunday.

An Alaska State Trooper who received minor injuries in a Sterling Highway crash was identified Sunday. AST spokesperson Megan Peters says Trooper John Probst was driving an SUV which was struck Saturday afternoon. A Saturday AST dispatch says the wreck happened near Mile 145 of the highway at 4:43 p.m. Saturday, when a green 1995 Dodge pickup with 46-year-old Kenai man Anthony Larocca at the wheel was headed north and tried to pass another vehicle. “As Larocca passed the vehicle he lost control of the Dodge truck and crossed the center line,” troopers wrote.

A 21-year-old Mountain Village man died in a single-vehicle rollover crash early Thursday morning which also caused minor injuries to his passenger, according to Alaska State Troopers. Troopers responded at 3:15 a.m. to Airport Road in Mountain Village, where a Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by Keith DelaRosa left the road and overturned several times. DelaRosa, who was ejected from the driver's-side window during the crash, died instantly of head trauma. Passenger Kevin Thompson, a 22-year-old Mountain Village resident, received non-life-threatening injuries and was held for observation by health officials.

Alaska State Troopers say two Wasilla men were involved in a pickup truck-bicycle collision Wednesday afternoon, with the bicyclist injured while crossing a road. Troopers responded just after 1 p.m. to Church Road's intersection with Spruce Avenue, where a white 1995 Chevrolet pickup driven by 46-year-old Robert Frederick Carlson had been headed south on Church. “Nicholas Smith Parks, age 18 of Wasilla crossed the road on his bicycle in front of Carlson's vehicle and was struck,” troopers wrote.

Two people died and four others were injured near Elim Sunday morning in the rollover crash of a pickup truck, according to Alaska State Troopers. Nome troopers were notified of the single-vehicle wreck on Moses Point Road, two miles north of Elim, at about 7:45 a.m. Sunday. A Ford Ranger driven by 19-year-old Heather Saccheus with five passengers went out of control and rolled about four times, ejecting all but one occupant -- 16-year-old April Daniels. Saccheus and Oscar Takak Jr., 19, were declared dead on the scene.

A pick-up truck driver was arrested Sunday night, after slamming into a Fairview building. No one was injured when a man driving a 2008 Dodge Ram crashed into Prince Hall Masonic Order Grand Lodge on 9th and Latouche, according to Anchorage Police. The driver tried to flee the scene on foot, but was detained by people who saw the crash until police arrived. A member of Prince Hall Masonic Order described seeing the truck inside the building. "Shocking, when you come to see that they ran right through the building, and if it wasn't for the telephone pole he probably would have ran right through the building," Antonio Anderson said.